Am I Different
by guevarache
Summary: It is told in the books that slavery is not going on in Tortal but what if it was? What if a girl found a way to record her story and send it to the king? This is that record.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

I stole this book from the dresser on the side of the mistress's bed. Nobody saw me for I am never seen. I was first intrigued by the small lock on it for why would a book need to be locked? Do they not just contain words? I slip it into my loose-fitting shirt and try to look unsuspicious as I walk out of the room as per normal.

Later that night I go into the slave quarters, thanking Mithros that I have a tawdry curtain around my cot. The only reason that I do is that I am the only girl slave on the entire fief. I push my worn-out blanket to the side to find the slim cut in the sheet surrounding straw. I shove my hand in and rifle around for a moment before finding what I am looking for. I pull my hand out clutching two slim metal pieces that are bent over themselves. Most women use them for their hair, but I pick locks. Making quick work of the lock, that turns out to be the easiest to lock that I have ever tried, I open the book to see blank pages.

I started to write. Any other slave would have most likely tried to sell it to some merchant that came through, so that they would not get caught with it, but then again to my knowledge none of them know how to write.

Author's note I have never written much before so any constructive criticisms are great.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1.

Earlier this morning the masters were asking everybody whether they had seen the little book. They even offered a hot meal to anybody that would rat a fellow slave out and I know of a few that would have told even before that was offered in hopes of a reward. It is times like these that I am extreme glad that I am separate from the rest of the slaves and even though I am not treated any different by the masters. Neither slaves nor masters would suspect me of anything because I play the role of the most rule abiding, submissive, and meek slave ever.

I often wonder about my past. I lived in a small cabin with my mother until she died when I was five and then I started having to work. I was given much less food and chores, which were much too hard for a five year old to do, from dawn 'til dusk. I have positively no clue who my father is and I have few memories of my mother. Most of the ones that I still do have are of her last few weeks of life when she was terribly sickly and I was only able to do my best to care for her. My mother was beautiful though. She had long, wavy, dirty-blonde hair and a delicate face. She is the one who taught me to read and write. When she was beginning to feel unhealthy she started teaching me the alphabet

I have always wondered why my mother was treated so well. I was treated better when she was alive as well. There has to be some secret reason that I am here. All the other slaves are strong, if underfed, grown men. I remember one man, Mathew, who, while cutting down some trees with the giant six-man saw, had the tendon in his right arm destroyed, making him useless for work. The next day the masters told the rest of the slaves he had to be taken to the healer to have his hand fixed, but he never came back. It has happened several times that a slave, who has been hurt badly enough to keep him from ever working again, disappears. It has been told to us many times that a slave that can't work at their full potential or isn't as functional as others has no place on this fief. Currently I am not nearly as good at physical work as any of the male slaves, but in other areas I am now quite proficient. When I was five, however, I could do nothing nearly so well, if even at all.

The mistress of came down to the slave's housing unit, the old barracks of the fief, just after noon today. She gave a short unarticulate speech about how important the book was to her and how she would gratefully reward a snitch with quite a few days off with hot meals. The masters and her obviously don't understand that such a big reward wasn't necessary for every slave would have told anything for just a single day off. After this announcement every slave is glancing around searching for a guilty looking comrade who might have taken the book. Every man would rat, even his closest friend, out for that reward. Nobody speaks up and mistress storms out while grumbling about pathetic incompetent slaves.

A short while later when I was walking to the latrines I heard a very interesting tidbit of a conversation. I missed part of it so I was not completely sure of what mistress and the master going to his own cabin were saying, but it seemed that the book is more than it looks. I missed the beginning of it, but still heard quite a lot because they were paused in front of the master's cabin for a few moments. Anyway, here is what I heard from their dialogue.

Master: I can see why that might be bad, but how could the book get the magic to send it there?

Mistress: Well that is not the only way, for if a strong enough mage were to use its twin then the mage might be able to access it all that it contained.

Master: Why would your sister get that powerful of a mage though?

Mistress: She most likely wouldn't, but she might be pissed off enough to. Oh this could turn into such a disaster. If the king were to find out we could all go to court.

Master: I do believe that you are over fretting, for even if one of the slaves has stolen the book, none of them can write.

Mistress: That is true.

After this they continued to talk, but I had to leave for fear of them catching me eavesdropping.

What I gathered from the conversation was that the book I stole has some magic property and that for some reason mistress and the masters could get in major trouble with the king if he knew about something that was going on here. I really wonder what that is. And what the book can do if it can somehow let the king know about what is going on here. I think that it must have to do with writing in the book for the master mentioned that none of the slaves could write.

It is becoming too dark outside for me to continue to write and I should go to bed. We are sure to have a longer day than usual tomorrow for we lost some time with all the masters trying to find the book.

AN: I hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Today was one of the hardest days of work ever. We got up before the sun had even started to break into the sky or birds had woken up and started singing. Even in the earliness it is easy to tell that the day will be blisteringly hot. We are then split into groups and today, for an aberration, I get put in one. The other five members of my unit each let out an audible sigh when they here my name called last, for they each know that they will have to work extra hard to stop us all from getting whipped.

We work hard on plowing the fields all morning, with the master assigned to us threatening us with whippings every time we slowed down in the slightest. When the bell at the main house rung we stopped and were grabbing our things to go back and get our midday meal and refill our canteens the master stopped us.

Master: You get no meal or break today because of the stolen item. Get back to work before I give you each a proper flogging.

We scamper back to our spots and watch in covetousness as master gets a large hot meal brought up to him along with several large canteens. We continue plowing for several more hours until the middle of the afternoon when we are all out of water. The strongest of us, Mark, is silently nominated to go to master and tell him we need water if we are to continue to work in this unbearably scorching heat. Master just stiffly shakes his head no and lashes out with the whip in his hand. The whip lands with a resounding thud on Mark's back and he quickly jogs back over to where we are. Less than an hour later when we are all becoming sluggish due to overheating, Mark collapses. Master comes over immediately to see if Mark was just trying to get out of work. After finding that it was not just a ruse and that he was out cold he had the two next strongest men, Matt and David, carry him back to the slave quarters along with all of our canteens to fill up at the well and bring back. John, Leo, and I are told to get back to work, but not to try to strenulously until they get back with the water. We are grateful when they return and finish the long day with nothing interesting happening.

We all go back to the slave quarters to eat and afterwards see Mark finally beginning to wake. I go over to talk to him but he seems unright in the head. He was saying sentences in the wrong order and was very hard to understand. I am quite worried about him because if that continues he might have to go see the mage. Most people don't come back after that.

I am so tired out from today. I really hope tomorrow isn't as bad.


	4. Chapter 4

Today was completely normal, with no mention of the stolen book at all. Slaves each went back to their usual job, and that meant that I did my regular jobs in the castle all day.

Everyone is pissed at me because they think it's my fault that Mark got so dehydrated yesterday. Their reasoning is that if there had been a fifth strong person instead of me, then Mark would not have had to work so much and end up so screwed up. Luckily he is a little better today and by the time he came back tonight he was almost back to normal.

There was a messenger sent to the fief that told the mistress that some friend of the king—I forget his name—is coming here, either tomorrow or the day after. At least I assumed that he was a friend of the king because he was the leader of the king's own.

Whenever someone visits I have to do lots of extra work in the castle and never say a word the whole time, while all the other slaves hide in our sleeping quarters. They also get extra food or only slightly used clothes from the masters, who are trying to prevent any of the slaves from telling the visitors.

I was writing this all in candlelight because I got back late, but I have to stop now because everyone want to go to bed.

AN: I know that this one was short, but I'll try to get another one up tonight. I hope you enjoyed and reviews are great!


	5. Chapter 5

I found out his name, it's Raoul. It turns out that some of the other higher up people from the king's own and Raoul's wife are also going to stay at the castle. Only five, but that meant that I had to help the maids clean the rooms that were necessary. I also had to do my regular jobs, so I had a lot to do, but later that night I had to serve at the at the high table.

I have never done that before and probably never would have if there had not been several maids sick with a summer flu. I was so nervous that I would mess up and I did. My hands were shaking and I spilled quite a lot of gravy on this man called Dom. As I started to run to get some towels for him I saw a fire in the mistresses eyes that promised a punishment for me tomorrow. When I come back and hand him the towel, he thanks me and asks my name. I mumble Hazel, just loud enough for him to hear, even though I know that it will mean more pain tomorrow, because I talked. I walk away as quickly as I can without making it too obvious, so that I will avoid any other questions The rest of he dinner goes typically and when it is over I sprint straight back here without seeing if I have any more tasks to do, probably earning even more slashes.

I am quite scared because I haven't been whipped for almost two years and this one will most likely be the worst one I have ever had. I consider running away, but when I tried that several years ago I got caught and had no food for a five days and a whipping. Maybe I should try to run away though. I want to, but I am too scared. Fear rules my life. It stops me from doing what I want to and being who I actually am.

I have heard that the people from the king's own will be staying for around five more days. I really hope that the maids that are sick get better soon so that I will not have to serve at the high table anymore.

Today as I was walking over to my cot, in the outfit lent to me for while they are here, one of the slaves whistled. I quickened my pace and looked at the ground until I got to my cot and pulled the curtain around it shut. I am sure that he whistled only because of my nicer-than-usual outfit and because he has no shot with any other woman, but I still always get really nervous when one of the slaves does that. I don't consider myself pretty and I am scared of what they might do to me.

I have dark brown, almost black, hair and vivid blue eyes. My body is very slim, mainly due to the lack of food, but in the past year I have gained some curves. I do not look like my mother did at all so I can only assume that I got most of my looks from my father. I really wish that I knew who he was.

I wonder if any of the visitors noticed the slender metal band around my wrist that marks me as a slave. If they did they probably thought it was just a piece of jewelry, but I can always make up implausible ways that they could take me away from here. I do that a lot, even though I realize that I will doubtlessly be here my whole life.

AN: I hope you liked it!


	6. Chapter 6

There was not much that happened today; I, unfortunately, had to serve at the high table again, but this time nothing went wrong and no one tried to speak to me. Only two of the maids are still sick, so I had a bit less work to do than yesterday.

The mistress told me that my punishment would not happen until Lord Raoul and his party leave, but I am even more anxious about it because she didn't tell me what it would be. I saw massive amounts of smoke coming from a nearby village and heard that it had been raided and burned. The own have decide to go help and try to catch the raiders, so they will be leaving at midday tomorrow, but they may be coming back a few days later.

When I arrived back at the slave quarters the men had been given some alcohol and some were completely drunk. I noticed this as I was walking in and I sprint across the room to my corner. They can be very scary when they are drunk, mainly because it addles their thinking.

The Next Day

I am lying on my stomach as I write this because it would be too painful to lie on my back or to sit on my bottom. It is very hard to concentrate on this, but I feel that I must write this down so that I don't forget any of it.

This morning started out fairly normally, but the whole schedule for the day has been messed up because a fancy meal was served at the high table at noontime as a farewell to the guests. I did most of my normal chores and then I had to go serve at the high table. The craziest thing happened there. Raoul said that he forgot his gloves in his room and thought that he didn't know the way back to it so he asked me to show him the way. I knew that I had to comply, so I said follow me and started off in a brisk trot. As soon as we were out of hearing distance of the dining hall he looked around to check if anyone was close and apon seeing that no one was he started speaking quite quickly.

Raoul: The real reason that I am staying here is that there was thought to be something wrong here. When looking over the taxes from here the king was wondering how so few people managed to field so many crops. Do you happen to know anything about this?

Hazel: No sir, why would I?

Raoul: Well, since you do not go back to the same place as the other maids each night I figured that you would. While we have been here we have looked around at many places, but have not been able to go to any of the buildings in the direction that you walk each night. There are always men watching around there. Why is that?

Hazel: It must be a coincidence sir.

Raoul: And the fact that, you wear a metal band around your wrist, when none of the maids are supposed to wear jewelry is just another coincidence to, right? It isn't some sign that Lord and Mistress of Montagu own you or anything. Are you able to take it off?

Hazel: Maybe I don't want to take it off.

Raoul: Has anyone every told you that you are a terrible liar? Because you are. I honestly am just trying to help you and it would be much easier if you would just answer truthfully. Now are you going to tell me anything or shall we go back now?

Hazel: We should be getting back.

Raoul: Very well, and thank you for your time. If you do decide that you want to be honest and help us, Dom will be staying at the tavern right outside the walls.

I know that I shouldn't have lied, but I was too scared of what would happen to me. I am almost positive that I would be killed. Even if I am just living the life of a slave here, that is much better than not living at all. I really hope that some other slave has the guts to tell one of them what is actually going on here, so that we can all leave. Oh, I forgot that none of them were ever allowed out while the guests were here, and that means that none of them know that Raoul and the others are trying to help I should try and sneak out of the castle grounds and go tell Dom. But no that would be way to risky. And that is just besides the fact that I am unable to run or even walk quickly at the moment.

As soon as the gate is shut I am pulled by one of the masters, from my cot were I just had changed back into my normal clothes, to a post by the slave quarters, and tied by my wrists to the top, so that I am hanging there. Most of the men can stand with their toes on the ground when they are here, but because I am a fair bit shorter than all of them, I just hang. All of the other slaves are let out and they flock around to watch and all the other people who are anywhere near there come over as well. I still have not been told how bad my punishment will be, which makes me even more scared. She speaks in a haughty voice.

Mistress: You did not perform your duties correctly and you spoke without permission from the Lord or myself. You also left for the night without leave from myself and for all of that you will get twenty lashes and no food for the rest of the week.

My mind was reeling, I had once seen a full-grown, strong man die after getting twenty-five and here I was about to get almost as many. I had never gotten more than eight before and except for the man that died I have never seen someone get more than twelve. I promised myself that I would not let this kill me and gritted my teeth as she went on.

Mistress: In addition you will have no salve to put on your wounds to make sure they do not become infected and everyone is prohibited from helping you in any way.

The absence of the salve will not only mean that the gashes will almost certainly become infected, but also means they will take longer to heal. All of the slaves know that—although the masters deny it—it makes wounds heal a fair bit faster. They always want us to go back to working as well as usual, as soon as is possible.

Mistress nodded at the, master who dragged me there and tied me up, to start. Another master hands him the whip and he rolls it around in his hand for a few minutes before taking a step towards me. The whip is a fine one; it has ten thin pieces of leather that each have a small, but sharp rock on the end and the leather pieces are each connected to a well-worn wooden handle.

The master that was about to whip me has a special hate for me and it showed on his face as he started to pull the whip back for the first lash. I turn my head forward and only hear the whistling of the whip before all I can think about is the pain. I scream shrilly each time the whip comes down. It continues and a tiny part of me realizes that some of the crowd is laughing at my screams and how my shirt is falling off because the whip has shredded it. I try to keep count in my head, but somewhere after the fifth one I lose conciseness, only to be woken up by a bucket of water on my head. I am wondering how it hasn't been twenty yet, because I feel like it has been hundreds, when he moves down to my bottom. The crowd laughs even more now. I am completely naked. It stops. I must have lost conciseness again then.

I woke up as the sun was starting to set and was surprised to find myself on my cot. Mistress must have not wanted any trader to see me. The remnants of my clothes were lying on top of me. I wonder what I am supposed to wear now. I don't think mistress would like it if I went to do my jobs naked, but at this point I will have to.

The pain is to bad for me to move and put this away, so I will just have to hope that no one will find it under my pillow.

AN: Wow that was a long one! It sort of just went its own way, because that didn't really go the way I planned.


End file.
